Early and accurate identification of an electric arcing event is an important first step in mitigating undesirable and/or dangerous electrical arcing conditions that may develop in electrical equipment. Known electrical arc detectors have been generally directed to post arc-discharge detection. That is, directed to detection subsequent to the formation and discharge of an electrical arc. For example, one known technique for detecting arcing events is to use optical detectors to sense the arc flash associated with an arcing discharge. However, such detectors are usually limited to line of sight detection and must be positioned relatively close to a potential source of an arc. Another technique is to use current monitors to evaluate current perturbations in a conductor indicative of an arcing event. However, this technique may require burdensome processing demands resulting in an undesirably long reaction time for identifying an arcing event. Improved detection directed to pre-arcing conditions is desired to pre-empt the occurrence of an arcing event.